1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to damping devices, and more particularly to a damping device designed for working with exercise equipment.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, with the prevalence of healthful exercise, increasing indoor fitness and exercise equipment are introduced to the market, such as treadmills, weight machines, exercise bikes, rowing machines and so on, for users to do physical training indoors regardless the weather.
Rowing machines are herein discussed for example. A conventional rowing machine typically includes a base, a slide rail installed on the base, a seat slidably mounted on the slide rail, a pair of pedals provided at one end of the base for positioning a user's feet, and a pair of paddles installed to the base at two sides of the seat for the user's two hands to operate like rowing a boat. In use, a user puts his/her feet against the pedals and holds the paddles in his/her hands to do push-and-pull movement like he/she is rowing a boat, so that the seat slide to and fro along the slide rail. Such a machine is intended to train the user's muscles in his/her arms, legs, chest, waist and back.
Some improvements have then been made to the conventional rowing machine. For example, Taiwan Patent No. 1249416, titled “IMPROVED FAN BLADES FOR MAGNETIC-CONTROL WHEEL” teaches a taking-up wheel and a magnetic-control wheel pivotally connected to and movably linked to an exercise machine's frame. The taking-up wheel includes a one-way bearing and acts as a wheel-type component that rotates in a single direction. On the axle of the taking-up wheel, there is a taking-up portion around which one end of a woven ribbon is wound so that the woven ribbon is fixed to the taking-up portion, and there is a wheel-belt portion adjacent to the taking-up portion. A driving belt has one end wound around the wheel-belt portion and an opposite end wound around the magnetic-control wheel at a corresponding site. The woven ribbon has its opposite end connected to a handle bar for a user to grip. In addition, a vane wheel is screwed to a lateral of the magnetic-control wheel. Since the blades of the vane wheel rotate along a path that is offset from the periphery of the magnetic-control wheel, when the vane wheel rotates with the magnetic-control wheel, a guiding air flow is formed as a result of application of centrifugal force and high-low pressure principle in conjunction with the intake space at the bottom of the blades. The air flow is guided according to fluid mechanics and effective in generating windage resistance, so as to increase damping for the magnetic-control wheel and provide proper resistance during a user's exercise.
However, the improved fan blades for the magnetic-control wheel works upon a user's movement of pulling and pushing the handle bar that drives the woven ribbon to rotate the taking-up wheel and in turn rotate the magnetic-control wheel and the vane synchronously through the driving belt. Since the driving belt drives the magnetic-control wheel and the vane wheel to perform synchronous rotation by means of one-stage transmission, the generated resistance is limited, and consequently the training effect is also limited.